Troops 'humiliated American Taliban'
Elite US special forces posed for photos with American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, handcuffed and with an obscenity written across his blindfold, Pentagon officials said.
An embarrassment to the military as unprofessional behaviour, the photos also could be a violation of international norms on prisoner treatment and a boost to his lawyers’ claims that Lindh was mistreated while in US custody.
It is at least the third troublesome incident for the Department of Defence involving photos of Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian who is accused of training with al Qaida terrorists and is charged with conspiring to kill Americans.
In a court motion, his lawyers previously said that unofficial photos and videos of Lindh were taken aboard the USS Peleliu while he was confined on the Navy ship. Pentagon officials said the taking of ‘‘souvenir photos’’ by troops on deployment is common, but in that instance, an officer confiscated cameras and film and erased digital images, lawyers said.
Also as part of a written court filing, Lindh’s lawyers last month released a picture of him in Afghanistan, blindfolded, strapped to a stretcher and naked. Defence officials have said that while that photo may have appeared shocking, it was taken out of context because he was naked as part of his preparation for medical treatment.
In the newly-revealed incident, Lindh has an obscene, derogatory word written across his blindfold, a senior defence official said.
The Pentagon has repeatedly limited the media in the kind of photos it can take of prisoners from the war in Afghanistan on the argument that photos subjecting the prisoners to humiliation violate Geneva Convention provisions on treatment of prisoners.
The photos troops took of themselves with their prisoner were found when the Pentagon did a computer search for documents and other materials ordered by the court hearing charges against Lindh, another official said.
Existence of the photos were first reported on CBS Evening News, a television programme.
Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said he did not know if the photos were being held at the Pentagon and that he hadn’t seen them.
‘‘You know, there’s hundreds of detainees, and about every day somebody says something,’’ he said in response to reporter’s questions.
‘‘I guess if you ask me when I got up in the morning - and we’ve got people being killed in the Mideast and we’ve got a war going on in Afghanistan - if I am going to change my schedule and go chasing after rumours on things like that, it’s unlikely,’’ he said in impromptu comments in a Pentagon hallway.
Lindh’s lawyers have said Lindh was under duress when he made statements to US authorities that he had trained with al Qaida. They said their client was held under horrific conditions after his capture in Afghanistan.
The government denies this, saying his food and medical care equalled that of US soldiers.
